Creating and remembering a user name and password for login is often challenging, especially when the user has different user names and/or passwords for different sites. When a user cannot remember the user name and/or password when attempting to login to a site, the user may abandon a login session or may contact customer support for recovery of the login credentials. As a result, companies may encounter reduced login volume or may have to expend resources managing user accounts. Often, for ease of remembering the login credentials, a user may use the same user name and password for all or most of the user's sites. This is not secure, as a fraudster who obtains the login credentials for one site can then access all the other sites using the same credentials.
Even if the user easily remembers a user name and password, the user still has to manually enter the information, such as through a keyboard or keypad. This makes the login credentials susceptible to detection by keylogger spyware or people looking over the user's shoulder, especially when the user is in a public place or attempting to login through a public computer. While systems have been proposed to more securely authenticate users, these systems may require special hardware such as biometrics readers or near field communication (NFC) devices. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide ways for users to login to websites conveniently, securely, and efficiently.
Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are best understood by referring to the detailed description that follows. It should be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures.